Two million: The new homes Britain needs to build to cope with the next 25 years of immigration

More than two million new homes will have to be built over the next 25 years to cope with immigration, official figures disclosed yesterday.

They showed that room will have to be found to provide homes for 83,000 migrant families a year if the influx continues at the current rate.

More than a third of all the new houses and flats made available between now and the mid-2030s will be needed for individuals and families coming to Britain from abroad, the analysis said.

Open house: Migrants arrive in Britain. At least 600,000 homes will have to be built in London and the South East over the next 25 years

At least 600,000 of these will have to be in the most overcrowded parts of the country, London and the South-East.

The demand for homes to house migrants is a key reason for the need to build, the Communities Department said. ‘Population growth is the main driver of household growth, accounting for nearly three-quarters of the increase in households between 2008 and 2033,’ said a spokesman.

Around two-thirds of population growth is directly brought about by immigration. Immigration pressure groups accused officials of trying to underplay the effect of the flow of people into the country on new housebuilding.

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Development is highly unpopular among the great majority of people living in the southern half of the country, where transport, health and social services, water and power supplies are already struggling to keep up.

Sir Andrew Green, of the Migrationwatch think-tank, said that officials had failed in their analysis to mention the role of immigration in population growth and had

relegated any mention of housing for migrants to technical discussions in the second half of their paper. ‘It is inexcusable for the Government to paper over the huge impact of continued massive levels of immigration on housing,’ he said.

Highlighting the immigration issue from yesterday's Daily Mail

‘If immigration is allowed to continue at present levels it will account for just over a third of new households in the next 25 years.

‘The first response to the housing crisis should be to face the facts. The last government was in denial. That cannot be allowed to continue.’ Home Office ministers have capped numbers of visas for workers from outside Europe and are moving on to try to reduce the record rate at which students, many of them thought to be disguised economic migrants, are arriving in Britain.

The Office for National Statistics recorded 211,000 foreign students coming into the country last year and its latest figure for ‘net migration’ – the number of people added to the population in a year after immigration and emigration are both counted – is 215,000. According to the Communities Department, immigration amounts for 36 per cent of the demand for new homes over 25 years.

Much of the rest will be needed because of family break-ups and the ageing population.

The decline of marriage and the rise of cohabitation have resulted in much higher numbers of single parents and separated fathers, and older people increasingly live alone. In all, 5.8million new homes will be needed by 2033, the analysis said.